23 Mar 2012 3:36 pm
Rachael Maddow talks to former Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona, now running for Senator in the state of Arizona, about the GOP's attacks on Planned Parenthood, and how it is affecting health care for low income women.In Texas 130,000 of the poorest women are losing their medical care because Rick Perry chose to defund Planned Parenthood thereby forfeiting more than $35 million in federal funding. Arizona is considering doing the same.VIDEOTranscript:MADDOW: The chairman of the board of the Susan G. Komen Foundation announced his resignation today. It comes amid other high profile executive resignations from the foundation. The head of the New York City affiliate will leave next month. The executive vice president of and chief marketing officer of Komen`s national organization announced recently that she would also be resigning. More than 1,000 people have signed an online petition asking the head and founder of the foundation, Nancy Brinker, to resign from Komen as well. It`s all continued and current fallout from the decision by the Komen Foundation earlier this year they would stop giving grants to Planned Parenthood. Komen said at the time it had nothing to do with Planned Parenthood per se, it`s just that they wouldn`t fund anyone who was under government investigation. Was Planned Parenthood under government investigation? No, not unless you count this guy, Republican Congressman, Cliff Stearns of Florida, who says, sure, he wants to investigate Planned Parenthood. Cliff Stearns, for the record, also wants to investigate whether President Obama is secretly foreign and therefore might secretly not be the president. Cliff Stearns, birther congressman, not exactly a barometer of the seriousness of government concerns. The idea that there is something scandalous about Planned Parenthood is and has been a transparently fake controversy generated by the anti-abortion movement and their allies in politics. And the fact that the Susan G. Komen Foundation allowed themselves to be used as part of that scam is to their former supporters turning out to be what looks like an irreversible betrayal. It is hard to see how the Komen Foundation retrieves its reputation as defender of women after playing a part in the demonize Planned Parenthood scam. In Texas, the make Planned Parenthood into a scandal campaign has cost more than $35 million of federal funding for something called the Texas woman`s health program, that provides cancer screenings, pap smears, hormone patches, birth control and other basic services to more than 130,000 low income women in Texas. The poorest women in Texas are losing their medical care because Rick Perry and the Republicans in the state legislature say they do not want that money used for abortions. Of course, that money is already not used for abortions. Quote, "Texas already bars clinics that take such money from performing abortions. The new law is intended to prevent any state money from benefitting Planned Parenthood." Because, of course, regardless of abortion, Planned Parenthood is supposed to somehow be a scandal, somehow.Another state that is considering going the way of Texas on this, cutting off its poorest women from their health care in order to make a fake point about Planned Parenthood being a scandal regardless of abortion is Arizona, House bill 2800 in Arizona would again strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding even though that funding already does not go to providing abortions. That bill is currently making its way through the Arizona state legislature.Arizona Republicans have also moved to the legislature this year the so-called tell your boss why you`re on the pill bill, allowing your employer to force you to disclose the reasons why you are using prescription contraception so your employer can then decide whether or not he has moral objections to it being covered by your insurance. The former surgeon general of the United States, Dr. Richard Carmona, is an Arizonan. Of these bills, he says, quote, "Trying to block women from getting contraception or de-funding Planned Parenthood is completely nonsensical from a policy standpoint. As the 17th surgeon general of the United States, I can say without hesitations that these bills would be bad for public health and deleterious to the health of women." Dr. Carmona is not just the former surgeon general of the United States. He is also now a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in his home state of Arizona. Dr. Carmona, thank you very much for being here tonight for the interview. I really appreciate your time, sir. RICHARD CARMONA, FORMER SURGEON GENERAL: Thank you. Pleasure to be with you, Rachel. MADDOW: Thank you. House bill 2800 is making its way through the state legislature would essentially do in Arizona what Republicans have already done in Texas, de-funding Planned Parenthood and a lot of other women`s health services besides. How does this strike you both as a physician and potentially as a lawmaker? Do you understand the motivation behind this and do you think it will achieve its aims? CARMONA: Rachel, I don`t understand the motivations. But importantly as I look at this through the eyes of surgeon general, it doesn`t make any sense. The fact is, is that the consequences of anything like this to reduce or create barriers to health care are extraordinarily complex and the outcomes will be deleterious effects on women`s health. So, it really doesn`t make sense. MADDOW: How is it the effort to de-fund Planned Parenthood. I really see it as an effort to demonize Planned Parenthood and make it seem like a scandal, how is it to go after Planned Parenthood, to go after abortion in particular end up having such consequences for such a wide range of women`s health services?CARMONA: Well, Rachel, the issue, as you know, is that women get their health care in a lot of different places. And Planned Parenthood is one of those organizations that provide care to very often to health desperate populations. So, any time we eliminate access to health care, there are deleterious repercussions to the health of that population and in this case, it would be women`s health. So, this policy is very misguided and unfortunately can have catastrophic consequences. MADDOW: You have said that you`ve heard from conservative women, even from very conservative women, who do not support the Republican agenda right now on abortion rights and on reproductive rights. What are those women saying to you, particularly as you`re talking to people in the context of your run for office? CARMONA: Well, I heard it from all across the board, including conservative women, who actually feel very unhappy about the fact that a group of men, as I was told, are trying to determine their choices, as far as reproductive health care. So, I think there`s significant unintended consequences to this. But again, the policy isn`t very well thought out. We should be doing the opposite. We should be doing everything we can to increase access to health care for all women, and in doing so, we expect we reduce unwanted pregnancies and also reduce the need for abortion. We all should be striving to increase access to health care for all women and all citizens. MADDOW: It seems like what you just articulated there was a nonpartisan, even beyond bipartisan -- a nonpartisan point of agreement on the issue of reproductive rights and abortion. Even people who were for abortion rights or against abortion rights could agree that abortion should be made fewer by giving people access to contraceptives, giving people access to comprehensive family planning that nobody on either side of the abortion debate wanted there to be more unintended pregnancies. How did -- how did that break down? Why did that -- I thought that was going to be a longstanding consensus. But it seems to have evaporated very quickly. CARMONA: I would agree with you, Rachel. I think that this issue has become politicized. Everybody is entrenched in their positions and they don`t want to give at all. The fact of the matter is, there`s a very simple solution -- no matter which side of the aisle you are on or if you don`t believe in being on either side of the aisle, all of us as citizens should be looking to how we can maximize access to health care in women`s health, but all aspects of health. That would be the best for our nation. It will drive down the cost of health care. It will prevent unwanted pregnancies. It will drive down the amount of abortions that are used for unwanted pregnancies. It`s a win-win for both sides. MADDOW: Dr. Carmona, you have a long background in law enforcement. You were surgeon general of the United States under President George W. Bush. You are running for Senate as a Democrat in Arizona. What made you want to be in the United States and what made you decide to run as a Democrat? CARMONA: Well, I -- you know, to be honest with you, Rachel, when I left Washington, I thought that was it for me, a surgeon general. I finished my statutory term, I served the nations again in uniform and I came home.But like many, I was very upset with what I was seeing, with the politicization of health issues, of science, of technology, of people not using prudent judgment to promulgate policy on behalf of the American public. And that led to a number of discussions with colleagues locally, right up at the national level to colleagues. And in fact on both sides of the aisle who encouraged me to get my hat in the ring because of a vacant Senate seat, which I did. So, the reason I chose the Democratic Party was I looked at where the Republicans were on issues like women`s health, contraception and immigration, it was clear I could not support any of those. And that my home really fit better on the Democratic side. I`ve been an independent my whole life and I try to look at things very rationally based on the best science. That`s what I`m going to continue to do as a U.S. senator.MADDOW: I think a lot of Democrats have concluded a lot of independents who aren`t making a decision to run for office but are making a decision about how to vote might look at some of those issues you just identified right there -- contraception, reproductive rights and some of these other things and decide the same way that you decided this year, sir. It`s been fascinating politics. Dr. Richard Carmona, former U.S. surgeon general under President George W. Bush, now Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Arizona -- Dr. Carmona thank you very much for your time tonight. It`s nice to meet you. CARMONA: Thanks very much. My pleasure.